The Wilmingtonian., 1887-07-09

country was new and the song of the sis
| shooter was heard in the land,
The Black Hawks, from whom the play de
riyes its name, seem to be nomadic tribe OF
men who obtain precarious livelihood by
sei2ing a woman every little while who insists
on strollmg across the plains dressed in plug
hat with n veil tied around it. She is also a
| victim to the blue flannel riding habit These
| robbers, who are really white men from
| Fort Lee, seize their victim by the wrist and
In hodrSe accents tell her to prepare to meet her
| fate. But she does not want to do so without
an opportunity to change her dress. She asks
| them to spare her ii they ever had mother
| But always just as she is asking if any gentle
man present has a mother, and is doing up
her hair preparatory to meeting her doom,
| Arizona Joe bursts forth, accompanied by
his long hair, and kills all of them except the
lady. He then rescues her and takes her
| away to his cabin, where she is perfectly safe
and there is no scandal connected with it, for
Arizona Joe is man who has had mother
and, although he frequently kills people, a
woman is just as safe in his cabin as she
would be in her own home. Arizona Joe
makes speciality Of preserving and rescuing.
lie has all he can do, and by the time he can
bury his dead and change his clothes there ia
somebody else OH the trail who desires to be
rescued.
Arizona Joe is not large man, but is
noted for his long and talented hair, which
parts at the back and shows how his head is
fastened on. He has a wonderful wealth OF
hair and would have made a very good
Sutherland sister if he had given his atten-
tion to it earlier in life.
The plot of the play seems to be to afford
Arizona Joe every possible facility for
slaughtering supes and preserving the lives
OF young women who are in the habit of
crossing the plains in croquet slippers And
yet il is to be regretted that so many of these
supes, who really have not tried to act at ALL
should he killed that way, while those who
really take part in the play and who there
by arouse the Indignation of the audience
should be spared.
Arizona Joe changes his hat whenever he
successfully kills anybody 1t is also notice
able that he wears n red tie when he is in the
slaughter business and green tie when he
rescues young woman who is going through
hostile country without an escort. At one
point in the play where A. J. has rescued
young woman and taken her to his cabin,
where so has been for three or four weeks
waiting for her parents to come on from At
Gibson, noticed that she and Joe had in the
confusion attendant on the rescue and pre-
servation traded neckties with each other,
but dD not think that should be used against
them.
-Four dogs, pearl gray iackass and hol-
low stump also take part IN the play. At one
point dog comes in bringing birthmark in
his mouth, when Arizona Joe at once Jumps
at the conclusion that there is some human
being near by. Long life on the border has
taught him that a birthmark is one of the
very best evidences that some one is not far
away SO with quick, Waterbury move
ment he dashes out and finds covey of peo-
pie who are crossing the plains without his
consent. He kills them, changes his necktie
SO that he will not be recognized, and goes
home by circuitous route. Along at this
point in the play variety Irishman and an
impossible negro come out and sing a topical
song OF the time of Queen Anne. The song is
not 50 bad as l have heard, but it was diffi-s
cult to judge it, as the people who were going
out at the time drowned the music with their
heavy footprints.
Looking at Arizona Joe last evening in his
strange, wild beauty, one could hardly help
from admiring him, for with all his poverty,
beauty and temptation to lead a life of shame,
he does not yield, but goes bravely on earning
precarious livelihood by killing disagreeable
people with whom he comes in contact He
never murmurs over his lot, and no ear ever
hears him complain unless it be the frontier.
AS Mexican hairless humorist he would
not succeed, but in his great role as pre-
server of stage coaches, he does we'll
would suggest to any one contemplating a
trip across New Mexico or Arizona by tan
tivy coach that they cannot get their rescu-
ing done with less delay or annoyance than
by giving their orders to Arizona Joe
The costumes used in this play are mostly
of the present century, and are quite real
istic, though the whiskers used by some Of
old Cauliflower's band are not a good fit for
those who wear them. One man especially
wears beard which is too tight for him, and
pulls his ears down too low, besides saving
across the under side of his nose and giving
his voice rich nasnl twang. A stage beard
in hot weather should also have hole cut in
it for the mouth, not only to give it a tinge
of realism, but in order to afford air to the
man who wears it.
Without wishing to criticise the play,
would say that it would be more realistic
with less conversation and more whisky, and
if the author had put less death in it it would
have been more lifelike.-New York World.
In Front of the nasentfve Mirror